CHAPTER I: MOORKEEP
It was an era long ago, in a time when magic ruled. A time when
good and evil fought with swords and bows; defense came from shields, talismans
and battlement walls, but most of all from the strength and purpose of the pure
heart. Among the strongest of all battlements were the great black walls of
Moorkeep.
Deep in the dungeon cell of the great fortress Moorkeep she
slept. She was in fitful, troubled slumber. Her long blond hair flowed down
over the small straw pallet that she was lying on. Her clothing was modest, an
ordinary beige dress, a garment like thousands of others worn by young elven
servants.
The girl seemed to be having the most horrible of nightmares.
Worry and Torment, etched her lovely face as she dreamt. Moorkeep was a place
for nightmares, of course. Built high in the mountains of Aldor, its dark walls
held the secrets of more than one bad dream. The strong hold of the Dark
Empire, it was also its heart. It was a prison, a city, a military base and a
palace. It was the elusive Dark Emperor’s Palace.
Moorkeep sat high on the summit of Mount Horismo, one of the tallest and
largest of all the Aldor Mountains. The sole passable road to Moorkeep was
narrow and guarded by many tall gates. The First, or last depending on whether
you were coming or going, was over fifty feet tall. It was a large monstrous
collection of iron and steel adorned with the skulls and bones of kings that it
was said had once dared to defy the Empire. The gate was so large and heavy
that twenty men were needed to open or close it. Once locked, there was no hope
of getting anything in or out of Moorkeep through the main road. The cliffs of
Mount Horismo were high and steep, a virtually impossible climb. The trek down
was just as impossible; the rocks so unstable that they would give under anyone
fool-hearted enough to attempt the descent.
Moorkeep was built of dark gray colored stone blocks; as the
early morning sun’s rays hit its walls appeared coal black. All, but one lonely
tower that stood in the center of the great fortress. This solitary tower was
Ivory. Why? No one still alive was old enough to remember. The rest of Moorkeep
seemed to be built around this tower. By whom? No one could remember that
either. Moorkeep, it was said, was older than time itself. It was also said
that only a god or death could escape Moorkeep.
All this had been alien to her until now. She had heard wild
tales about Moorkeep, but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined being
trapped within its walls, or more precisely in its dark, damp dungeon.
Suddenly she woke with a start what a dream! What a horrible
nightmare! It was just a dream. She was all right. It was not real. Then she
blinked in that moment after sleep when consciousness returns, and our senses
return to us. Then she realized where she was. A fear like none she had ever
known gripped her soul. It had not been a dream. She was certainly not all
right safe at home.
It had all happened so quickly. They had been camped near the
Dorrichy river; Dorrichy meaning fast water in the ancient dwarf tongue; since
morning. Moorkeep was at a fairly safe distance; about 50 leagues or so.
Besides, the wrath of Moorkeep had not been felt by the land elves of OakHaven
for seventy years. This was the fastest route from Redaria to OakHaven, there
was another way, but it was at least 120 leagues longer, and took about three
weeks longer to finish. After a week at the elven conference in Redaria the
small party from OakHaven could barely wait to get home.
Torrana had felt the same way. After seven days of banquets,
councils, lectures and balls; she wished desperately to be back in OakHaven. As
the king's daughter, she served no real purpose to this conference, save entertaining
the sons of other diplomats, and searching for possible alliances with other
kingdoms through marriage, of course. Her father had not told her this, but she
had through the years figured it out for herself. Councilman Baren’s eldest son
took a particular interest in her. He was tall and handsome, and a skilled
warrior. He was also quite possibly the most obnoxious young man she had ever
met. All he ever did was talk about himself and his family’s glory. Toranna
suspected that his attentiveness to her stemmed more from the possibility of
allying with royal blood, than any real love for her. At first she had been
flattered by the charming older boy’s attentions, but had quickly grown tired
of him once she realized they were not genuine. She remained polite, but made
it plain she was no longer interested.
He would not by thwarted so easily. He kept asking her
everywhere, and she, in ladylike fashion, kept making up excuses not to except.
But, every time she turned around, he would be there with an annoying grin on
his face, which he undoubtedly believed was irresistible to women. By the time
the conference came to an end, she was at her wits end with him. She was more
than happy to begin the long journey home. Besides after being in the harsh
dessert climate of Redaria for so many weeks, she longed for the lush green
forests of OakHaven.
All had gone well on the trip home. That night she had again
gone to see Bellis in the maids' quarters. Although the young woman was a
servant, Torrana found her easy to talk to. There were not many other young
people in their group. There was her cousin Rosetta, but she was a dreadful
bore. Torrana found Bellis much more interesting. At first, she had been a
little bit annoyed at always being called "Your Ladyship" or "Your
Highness"; but after several reminders Bellis simply started calling her
Torrana.
Then without warning, events took a horrifying turn. The sound
of invading hordes pounded through the encampment. You could hear the
thundering of enemy horses exploding down the hills from a mile's distance, and the rattling of the swords was even worse.
The warning horns blasted its chilling call into the night.
Bellis peered through a crack in the flap of the tent. There
were soldiers everywhere outside. Screams seemed to come from every direction.
Bellis shivered. "There going to kill everyone" she thought. No, she
realized she was panicking. Killing all was not the way of the Empire. They
would kill the soldier, the diplomats and the aristocracy, and of course, the members
of the Royal family; but the servants would be kept alive for their personal
use, in particular the women.
She turned looking at Toranna, the princess of OakHaven. She
would certainly be killed if nothing was done. She knew what she had to do, but
she knew her friend would refuse. She would never allow Bellis to be put in
danger in order to save herself. Bellis wondered how she could possibly do
this. "short of knocking her out, there is no way I’ll be able to…"
She did not finish the thought. She knew what had to be done. There was no
other choice. She had no time to fight with the princess. They would be here
any moment, Bellis had to act quickly.
Besides should she ask Toranna; and the princess refuse, the
ensuing argument would surely attract the soldiers outside. No, there was no
other choice.
She looked around her how was she going to do this? She scanned
the tent. Her eye came to the row of torches lying next to the door prepared
for the night. She picked one up, turned and rapped the princess squarely on
the back of the head. Her friend fell to the ground unconscious. "Lords
no," Bellis thought, "I pray I did not hit her too hard." She
looked down Toranna was still breathing, though a large bruise was already
beginning to emerge. The young royal would have a huge headache when she awoke.
That would be the least of her worries.
Swiftly Bellis began stripping her senseless friend. Then she
disrobed. Once finished she began pulling on Toranna’s long deep blue gown.
"Damn," she muttered, looking down at the princess, "no serving
girl I know as a such a fine embroidered silk undershirt. I’ll have to take
that off as well. Oh Gods, and her jewelry, I almost forgot her jewelry."
Although Bellis hoped no one would be looking at the princess’ undergarments,
the serving girl was not naïve. Tall for an elf, Torrana was fair skinned with
high cheek bones. The king’s only daughter with clear blue eyes and long golden
locks, Toranna’s was one of the most sought after beauties in OakHaven.
Morekeep was a fortress full of lonely soldiers. A young elven servant girl
would be extremely popular at Morekeep, since elven women aged almost 8 times
more slowly than human females. Although the Empire officially captured eleven
servants and commoners to perform menial duties inside the stronghold, it was
common knowledge that young woman captured by the Empire were used for its
soldier’s pleasures. Torrana would not fail to meet some young soldier's eye.
Bellis could only hope that her friend could endure what awaited her, until she
could find a way to escape.
Escape from Morekeep. No one had ever done this. "I can’t
think about that now." she thought "I am doing the right thing. I
know I am." She finished dressing herself in her highness’ clothing, and
then began the difficult process of outfitting the unconscious princess in her
own garments.
Just as she finished dressing Toranna; an imperial soldier burst
into the tent, grabbing Bellis by the arm roughly.
"what happened to her?" he asked pointing down at Toranna,
sensing something was amiss.
"She fainted…" Bellis stammered "From
fright."
The young soldier grabbed a pitcher of water, which had been
sitting on a nearby table and tossed its contents into Torrana’s face. The
young woman groggily opened her eyes. "Come on sweetheart," said the
soldier none to gently pulling a dazed Torrana to her feet. "Both of you
outside." He ordered dragging them out of the tent. Torrana was still so
stunned and confused that she did not notice that Bellis was now wearing her
dress.
The sound of shouting could be heard from outside. Pushing aside
the tent flap the soldier hauled the two girls outside, towards the source of
the noise.
When they reached the center of the camp, they spotted a young
overzealous captain screaming menacingly at the Queen. Torrana was suddenly
pushed aside, so violently that she fell to the ground. Bellis was dragged to
the very center of the camp to stand by Torrana’s mother, the Queen. The Queen
glanced briefly at Bellis and smiled at her.
"Where is it?" demanded the red faced captain.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, sir," the
Queen responded in a cool, formal tone. He slapped her in response.
"Don’t be stupid with me your Majesty, it does not become
you. The medallion, where is the medallion you wear?" he demanded, his
voice filled with anger and frustration.
"As you can see I wear no medallion, noble sir," she
responded, with only a hit of irony in her voice.
"I’m beginning to lose patience with you woman." His
hand reached up and grabbed her throat squeezing. "You will tell me, won’t
you elf-queen?" Torrana’s mother did not move, she simply stared back at
him in defiance.
"Well perhaps your lovely daughter knows something?"
"She knows nothing," the elf-queen responded.
"We shall see, come here child," he ordered, pointing
at Bellis.
Oh no, Torrana thought, she as
taken my place. She had been so shocked by the attack that she had failed
to recognize the obvious. Bellis was sacrificing herself for her. Torrana
wanted to cry out, to tell them they were making a mistake, that this girl was
not whom they were looking for. That however, she realized, would be futile.
They would not believe her. They would kill them both, of course, to be sure.
Bellis’ sacrifice would be in vain. Torrana could barely keep herself from
weeping. She would not let it happen.
The captain stroked Bellis’ strawberry blond hair with his right
hand.
"What a beautiful child, my Queen. You must be very proud
of this one," he said with an edge to his voice. His smile was that of a
wolf having just captured his prey.
"Yes," the Queen said softly, smiling at Bellis,
"very proud. She as always been of the most loving and loyal of my
children"
"Yes then, I’m sure you can see what a shame it would be if
something unfortunate were to befall her. Now were did you say you did with the
medallion?" he almost sneered.
"I did not" Queen Gillenia replied in an icy, level
tone.
"I see," he said. He was trembling at this point; from
anger or frustration, or a combination of both, Torrana could not tell. He
pulled a long pointed from a jewel encrusted enamel sheath at his belt,
pointing the tip at Bellis’ throat. "Perhaps I did not make myself clear.
You will tell me the location of the medallion, or I will kill your
daughter." He was shaking now and his eyes held the look of madness.
"You were quite clear, and I still have no idea what you
are prattling on about," came the Gillenia’s unwavering reply.
Without a second thought, the imperial captain slit Bellis’
throat. She slid lifeless to the ground, a large, ugly dark stain spreading
down the front of her dark blue gown.
No, Torrana wanted to scream,
but the sound stayed blocked in her throat. She was suddenly overcome by a wave
of nausea.
The captain incensed grabbed Toranna’s mother and began stabbing
her repeatedly. Knifing her in the stomach, then the breast, then finally
slashing viciously at her face. He continued stabbing the corps long after the
Queen was dead.
In those moments Torrana had wished she could be sick, since
that would force her to avert her eyes. No matter how much she wanted to
though, she could not even close her eyes. She new she would repeat this scene
over and over again in her mind for as long as she lived. Then suddenly her
wish was granted. A fierce wave of vomit rose in her throat. Tears blinded her
vision. She wiped her mouth, the taste of her retching still lingering. She
felt she might be sick again. She did not see the blood-soaked captain give the
order to search the camp, nor did she notice the soldiers tearing everything
apart.
"The medallion is not here, "the captain decided
sometime later, "the bitch must have sent someone of with it. Send out a
unit to search for them. They won’t get far alone in the desert. Lieutenant
make ready to leave." He added, turning to his subordinate.
Toranna was rounded up with the rest of the servants and they
were surrounded by guards.
The sudden sound of the heavy metal door grating the cold stone
floor, made her wake with a start. She did not remember falling asleep again.
She was blinded by a sudden burst of light.
"Brought you a little friend, Elf" chuckled a guard,
tossing a small brown hared girl into the center of the cell.